The prepaid purchase of goods and services is becoming increasingly popular, for many reasons. The issuer is relieved of order entry and manual file handling, some invoice preparation, handling, mailing, receipt, and deposit functions, and need not worry about bad debt. Also the issuer can bill for extra services rendered through electronic debit, and minimizes disputed billings and wasted labor. The user can limit costs by individuals, machines, or departments and obtain the services and goods easily and effectively. Therefore the use of prepaid cards has become widespread for a number of different activities, including long distance phone services, and the dispensing of utilities (as by using magnetic striped cards such as in U.S. Pat. No. 5,146,067).
While the purchase of business forms and related documents utilizing electronic means has been used effectively commercially for some time (such as shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,241,464 and 5,563,999, which are hereby incorporated by reference herein), to date printing services, or imaged documents prepared utilizing such printing services, have not been provided on a prepaid basis. According to the invention that is now possible. The prepaid printing services, and documents produced thereby, can be offered in the form of cards that look like conventional long distance prepaid phone cards, or may be in the form of computer diskettes (such as conventionally sent out for introducing offers by Internet access providers), and have a predetermined value of printing services or imaged documents. The purchase of the cards or diskettes can be provided by sales reps, at retail outlets, by distributors, or by on-line mechanisms. Information, queries, and the like may readily be transported by e-mail to facilitate quick and accurate transfer of account and product information.
According to one aspect of the present invention a method of obtaining and providing prepaid printing services or imaged documents, using a remote computer having a display screen, and a host computer, is provided. The method comprises the steps of: (a) Purchasing a prepaid print card or computer diskette having a predetermined value of printing services or imaged documents; and then substantially sequentially: (b) Using the card or diskette and the remote computer, electronically accessing the host computer and supplying verification data to the host computer. (c) With the host computer, verifying authenticity of the card or diskette used in step (b), including the remaining prepurchase value. (d) Electronically transmitting printing services or imaged documents order information from the remote computer to the host computer. (e) Electronically composing document information, using the order information. (f) Imaging documents using the electronically composed document information. And, (g) shipping the imaged documents to a desired location.
There may be the further step (h) of substantially simultaneously with step (g) (e.g. right at the time of shipping, or just before or just after shipping) invoicing the value of the imaged documents and related services, so that the user has a confirmation of the transaction. Step (h) may be practiced electronically by a transmission from the host computer to the remote computer, or a hard copy invoice may be sent in the mail or by other known technique.
Step (e) may be practiced to produce a printing plate, and step (f) practiced by printing a web of paper using the printing plate and a printing press. Alternatively or in addition step (e) may be practiced to electrostatically image the documents, produce them by any other conventional type of non-impact or digital imaging.
The method may also comprise the further step (i), before step (d), of producing a draft document electronically; and step (d) may be practiced in part to transmit the draft document to the host computer; and step (e) may be practiced to make a final electronic composition using the draft document. There may be the further step (j), before step (d), of displaying selection of paper size, orientation, margin, and other selection information at the remote computer to facilitate creation of appropriate order information, such as shown in U.S. Pat. No. 5,241,464. There may also be the further step (k), between steps (j) and (d), of displaying a preview document at the remote computer, and the still further step (l), between steps (k) and (b), of displaying a query asking for entry, or confirmation, of basic user information at the remote computer, and at the remote computer displaying a query asking for special color, print, or other instructions.
Typically steps (b) through (g) are repeated until the prepurchased value of the card or diskette of step (a) has been substantially exhausted; and step (a) may be practiced to renew the value of the card or diskette electronically using cash, a credit card or corporate Purchase Order, or any legal tender, which are preprocessed before step (b) may be practiced with a renewed value.
Where step (a) is practiced to purchase a diskette, the diskette includes at least automatic dial-in software which, after the practice of step (b), causes the host computer to download only the necessary application software and print drivers to allow the practice of step (d). [That is, only the necessary print drivers are downloaded from host to remote user, saving transmission time, cost, and disk storage space on the remote computer. Updated drivers may be obtained from the host at any time. This is useful when users buy/access a new printer or decide to print to a new device at the host.] Step (a) may be practiced to purchase a card, and step (b) practiced by dialing (using data associated with the card, such as an access number and phone number on the card) dialing into a BBS or Internet site to activate the card and download application software and print drivers. Step (l) may be practiced in part by providing a full pricing estimate which requires final approval before the practice of step (d). Steps (b) through (d) and (h) may be practiced using e-mail, and the computer diskette software may access the host computer using e-mail. Step (d) may be practiced using a Wide Area Network (WAN).
According to another aspect of the present invention a system for obtaining and providing prepaid printing services or imaged documents is provided. The system comprises the following components: A remote computer having a display screen. A host computer. A prepaid print card or computer diskette having a predetermined value of printing services or imaged documents. Means for using the card or diskette and the remote computer to electronically access the host computer and to supply verification data to the host computer. Means for electronically transmitting printing services or imaged documents order information from the remote computer to the host computer. Means for electronically composing document information using the order information. Means for imaging documents using the electronically composed document information. And, means for debiting the prepaid print card or computer diskette. The means for electronically transmitting may comprise a WAN, and the system may further comprise means for displaying selection of paper size, orientation, margin, and other selection information at the remote computer to facilitate creation of appropriate order information; and means for displaying a preview document at the remote computer. After initialization, the remote computer may be acted upon to provide prepaid print services as a printer option displayed on the remote computer display screen.
The invention has a large number of benefits associated therewith. Among the benefits of the system and method according to the present invention are the following:
It can easily be distributed to many users via disk or down loaded from the Internet, or office LAN. PA1 It can provide unlimited access points. PA1 It may be designed for modem and/or ISDN connection and/or LAN. PA1 Image file and job ticket can be sent to point of manufacture from any PC. PA1 Transfer is not limited by file size, transmission speed is limited only by bandwidth. PA1 It may be available in both Mac and PC versions. PA1 It can be designed to include pricing module or other table information, to allow users the capability of working off-line. PA1 It can bridge current e-mail systems. PA1 It may include transport layer features to assure error free transmission. PA1 It allows access to "virtual office" customers. PA1 It is not developed to be a LAN e-mail system though it does have the capability. PA1 It is not a Bulletin Board System. PA1 It is simple to use, requiring minimal technical support. PA1 It can transport "High Res" files, with no file size restrictions. PA1 Mac and PC versions can interact. PA1 File transmission is guaranteed, dynamic adjustments for line quality. PA1 It provides an audit trail for accounting, and tracing print activity. PA1 "Business to Business" sales are facilitated. PA1 It needs only one disk to install instead of many like other mail packages. PA1 It may employ international implementation, connectivity and distribution.
It is the primary object of the present invention to provide a method and system for the effective prepaid purchasing and fulfillment of printing services and associated imaged documents. This and other objects of the invention will become clear from an inspection of the detailed description of the invention, and from the appended claims.